TWO-SPINED BLACKFISH GADOPSIS BISPINOSUS ACTION PLAN 140 ACT Aquatic and Riparian Conservation Strategy and Action Plans PREAMBLE Two-spined Blackfish (Gadopsis bispinosus Sanger (1984)) was listed as a vulnerable species on 6 January 1997 (initially Instrument No. 1 of 1997 and currently Instrument No. 265 of 2016). Under section 101 of the Nature Conservation Act 2014, the Conservator of Flora and Fauna is responsible for preparing, where required, a draft action plan for a relevant listed species. The first action plan for this species was prepared in 1999 (ACT Government 1999). The species was included in Action Plan 29, Aquatic Species and Riparian Zone Conservation Strategy (ACT Government 2007). This revised action plan supersedes earlier editions. Measures proposed in this action plan complement those proposed in the Aquatic and Riparian Conservation Strategy and component threatened species actions plans such as the Trout Cod (Maccullochella macquariensis), Silver Perch (Bidyanus bidyanus), Macquarie Perch (Macquaria australasica) and Murray River Crayfish (Euastacus armatus). CONSERVATION STATUS The recorded maximum length of the species is 325 millimetres (mm) total length (TL), G. bispinosus is recognised and listed as a maximum weight is ~200 grams (g) and threatened native species in the following individuals larger than 240 mm TL and 50 g are sources: uncommon (Lintermans 1998, 2007). Australian Capital Territory Distribution and abundance Vulnerable – Section 91 of the Nature G. bispinosus is found in the cooler, upper Conservation Act 2014. reaches of the Murray–Darling river system in Special Protection Status native species – Victoria, New South Wales and the Australian Section 109 of the Nature Conservation Act 2014 Capital Territory (Jackson et al. 1996, Lintermans 2007). SPECIES DESCRIPTION AND In the ACT, G. bispinosus is currently restricted ECOLOGY to the Cotter River upstream of Cotter Reservoir (Lintermans 2000). It is present in two of the Description three reservoirs on the Cotter River (Bendora and Corin) but is absent from the Cotter G. bispinosus is a member of the Family Reservoir, presumably as a result of excess Percicthyidae which contains the Australian sedimentation of substrate smothering suitable freshwater basses and cods. It is a small to spawning sites (Lintermans 1998). medium-sized fish with a yellowish-brown to olive green back and sides, often spectacularly Habitat and ecology mottled with two to three rows of dark brown blotches (‘giraffe’ spots), running the entire This species is restricted to cool, clear upland or body length and extending onto the dorsal, anal montane streams with abundant in-stream and caudal fins. The ventral surface is uniformly cover, usually in the form of boulders and pale (cream to light grey) to the origin of the cobble (Sanger 1990, Koehn 1990, Lintermans anal fin (Lintermans 2007) (Figure 1). 1998, 2007) (see Figure 2). It also occurs in upland reservoirs with suitable rocky margins Two-spined Blackfish Action Plan 141 (Broadhurst et al. 2012). G. bispinosus is G. bispinosus is a relatively sedentary species generally found in forested catchments, where and is not known to undertake a spawning there is little sediment input to the stream from migration. Breeding is seasonal with egg-laying erosion or land management practices. commencing in November. Likely cues for spawning include day length and rising water temperature. Fecundity is low and is positively correlated with fish length. Females commence breeding in their second or third year. Between 80 and 420 eggs are laid (Sanger 1986, 1990, Lintermans 1998, Dennis et al. 2016) in a single egg mass. The spawning site is usually in the spaces between cobbles or boulders where the eggs are attached to the upper surface of a rock. (O'Connor and Zampatti 2006). G. bispinosus live for approximately eight years (Lintermans 1998). Further information is in Appendix 1. Figure 1 G. bispinosus sheltering in natural habitat in the Cotter River. Photo: M. Jekabsons, CURRENT MANAGEMENT ACT Government. ACTIONS AND RESEARCH Past management actions and information The species is largely nocturnal or crepuscular about research projects can be found in (i.e. active at dusk, dawn and night) (Ebner et al. Appendix 2. 2009, Broadhurst et al. 2012). Their diet is characterised by a predominance of aquatic Regulations prohibiting the take of G. bispinosus insect larvae, particularly mayflies, caddisflies by anglers under the Fisheries Act 2000 and the and midges. Terrestrial insects also make up a Nature Conservation Act have been in place significant part of the diet, indicating the since the species was listed as threatened in importance of intact riparian vegetation 1997. Following the completion of the Enlarged communities for their associated insect fauna, Cotter Dam, the total closure to fishing in the which fall onto the water (Lintermans 1998). Cotter River was extended upstream to the Young-of-year and juvenile G. bispinosus eat junction of the Cotter River with Condor Creek proportionally more mayfly and midge larvae to protect fish in the enlarged reservoir. To than adult fish, which consume larger items protect a range of threatened fish species, such as caddisfly larvae and terrestrial including G. bispinosus, fishing is also banned in invertebrates (Lintermans 1998). the Cotter Catchment upstream of Bendora Dam in Namadgi National Park. Movement of G. bispinosus is extremely limited, with the home range of adult fish estimated at Ongoing monitoring of both the Cotter River and 15–23 metres (Lintermans 1998, Broadhurst et Bendora Reservoir populations has occurred al. 2011). G. bispinosus can potentially persist in since the mid-2000s by either the ACT small refugia during dry periods, as it appears to Government or the University of Canberra rapidly recolonise when conditions improve, but (Beitzel et al. 2013, Lintermans 2001, 2005, movement is likely to be on local rather than on Broadhurst et al. 2015). Additional monitoring is larger scales. Further information about home undertaken to address potential localised range is in Appendix 1. threats such as prescription burns. An ACT Government database has been established. 142 Two-spined Blackfish Action Plan Under the ACT Water Resources Act 2007, a production. Although the area is being program of environmental flow releases in the rehabilitated, the remaining non-rehabilitated Lower Cotter Catchment makes particular area is modified by weed invasion (e.g. provision for threatened fish species with riffle Blackberries, pines). Sedimentation of streams and pool maintenance flows released (ACT from forestry practices and following fires has Government 2013). These Environmental Flow filled pools and smothered spawning sites, Guidelines are reviewed and updated every five reducing light penetration and the diversity and years and the effects of the flows on fish are abundance of invertebrates. Dams on the Cotter monitored by the ACT Government in River have reduced flows, particularly high-flow association with Icon Water (e.g. Beitzel et al. events, although this is addressed by 2016). environmental flow regulations. Dams have flooded previously riverine habitats, potentially The pine forests of the Lower Cotter Catchment impacting critical ecological functions (e.g. were severely burnt after fires in 2003 leading blackfish could not breed in Cotter Dam, likely to erosion and then sedimentation of the Cotter as a result of sediment smothering spawning River. Substantial revegetation with native sites). plants and reduction of forestry roads was conducted to reduce sediment getting to the River regulation lower Cotter River. In addition to improved water quality, less sediment in the river also The ACT G. bispinosus population in the Cotter provides better fish habitat. River is affected by the river regulation effects of Corin, Bendora and Cotter dams. G. bispinosus are present in Corin and Bendora reservoirs, but not in Cotter Reservoir THREATS (Lintermans 2002). Dams alter sediment and Freshwater fish and their habitats are imperilled nutrient regimes and may release cold or globally, with many concurrent and overlapping hypoxic water (inadequate oxygen), impacting threats operating across many countries and the fish downstream. In the flowing water locations (Malmqvist and Rundle 2002, Dudgeon sections up to a kilometre below Bendora Dam et al. 2006, Lintermans 2013a). The major wall the numbers of G. bispinosus are lower threats affecting native fish are habitat than upstream (ACT Government unpublished destruction or modification, river regulation, data). It is unknown why this reduction in barriers to fish passage, overfishing, alien fish numbers occurs but it may be from water species and climate change. These threats, with quality or habitat impacts from the dam. the possible exception of overfishing, are Fortunately, G. bispinosus numbers further considered to have impacted on populations of downstream in the regulated sections of the G. bispinosus nationally and locally. In addition Cotter River are in reasonably good condition, the effects of wildfires are a specific threat to supported by provision of effective G. bispinosus that is magnified in the Canberra environmental flows (Beitzel et al. 2013). region as a result of the extremely limited distribution (a single catchment) of blackfish in Barriers to fish passage the ACT. General information about these The construction of Cotter Dam in 1915 threats regionally can be found in the